Hollingsworth v. Hill
| Decision Date | 04 April 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 95-7091,95-7091 |
| Citation | 110 F.3d 733 |
| Parties | 97 CJ C.A.R. 473 Patricia A. HOLLINGSWORTH, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Arnold HILL, individually and in his official capacity as a Sheriff's Deputy for the McCurtain County Sheriff's Office, and Richard McPeak, individually and in his official capacity as Sheriff of McCurtain County, Oklahoma, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Michael H. Thompson, Barton, Thompson & Associates, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
Jason C. Wagner (Chris J. Collins, with him on the brief), Lee, Collins & Fields, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for Defendants-Appellees.
Before TACHA, BRISCOE, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.
In this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, plaintiff Patricia Hollingsworth alleges that defendants Arnold Hill and Richard McPeak violated her rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments when they searched her hotel room and seized her two children during the service of a protective order. Ms. Hollingsworth appeals an order of the district court granting summary judgment to Hill and McPeak. We exercise jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm.
The following facts are not in dispute. On January 7, 1993, Patricia Hollingsworth fought with her husband. The next day her husband, James Hollingsworth, went to the courthouse to obtain a victim's protective order that limited Ms. Hollingsworth's legal contact with her husband and children. While her husband was gone, Ms. Hollingsworth left home with their two children and checked into the End of Trail Motel in Broken Bow, McCurtain County, Oklahoma.
Under the Oklahoma Protection From Domestic Abuse Act ("OPFDAA"), Okla.Stat. tit. 22, § 60.2, a victim of domestic abuse may seek an ex parte protective order by filing a petition with the Oklahoma district court. The OPFDAA requires such an order to be served upon the defendant in the same manner as a summons. On January 8, 1993, the McCurtain County Special District Court issued an emergency protective order against Ms. Hollingsworth pursuant to Okla.Stat. tit. 22, § 60.3 entitled Ex Parte Emergency Order ("Order"). At noon on that day, defendant Arnold Hill, a McCurtain County sheriff's deputy, received a copy of the Order he was to serve on Patricia Hollingsworth. Deputy Hill, a sixteen-year law enforcement veteran, was frequently required to serve protective orders and summonses but was uncertain what this Order required him to do. When faced with a confusing legal question, the Sheriff and his deputies customarily sought legal advice from the District Attorney pursuant to Okla.Stat. tit. 19, § 215.5. Although the Sheriff did not require his deputies to follow the District Attorney's advice, members of the Sheriff's Department usually followed it.
The Order named James Hollingsworth and his two children, eight-month-old Hailey and two-year-old Taylor, as plaintiffs. It ordered Patricia Hollingsworth to (1) "not abuse or injure Plaintiff," (2) "not visit, assault, molest, harass or otherwise interfere with the Plaintiff," (3) "not come to the residence of the Plaintiff," and (4) "leave the residence of Plaintiff within 3 hours/days [sic] from service of th[e] Order until the hearing date." The fifth item in the Order stated: "This Order is not to prevent reasonable visitation between the parents with regard to the children."
The inherent inconsistency in the Order confused Deputy Hill. It named the children plaintiffs and ordered Patricia Hollingsworth not to "visit ... or otherwise interfere with the Plaintiff." On the other hand, the Order stated that it was not intended to prevent reasonable visitation between the Hollingsworths and their children. It also sought to prevent abuse of and injury to plaintiffs. Based upon these observations, Deputy Hill believed that the Order probably required removal of the children from Ms. Hollingsworth's custody. Because of his confusion and according to Sheriff's Department custom, Hill sought legal advice from McCurtain County Assistant District Attorney Willard Driesel, Jr. Like Hill, Driesel believed that the Order required the children to be taken from Ms. Hollingsworth and turned over to their father.
After failing to find Ms. Hollingsworth, Deputy Hill delivered a copy of the Order to the Broken Bow Police Department. Hill asked the Broken Bow police to contact him if they located Ms. Hollingsworth. The Broken Bow police eventually notified Hill that they had located Ms. Hollingsworth at the End of Trail Motel. Broken Bow officers Mike Erwin and Lindell Mann proceeded to the motel. They knocked at the door of Ms. Hollingsworth's motel room, she answered the door, and they entered her room.
When Deputy Hill arrived at the motel, the motel room door was open. He found Officer Erwin in Ms. Hollingsworth's room and Officer Mann "standing there at the door." When Hill walked up to the door, Officer Erwin said to Deputy Hill, "[T]his is Patricia," and Hill walked in. He then served the Order on Ms. Hollingsworth. Deputy Hill conferred with Officer Erwin about removing the children from Ms. Hollingsworth's custody, telling him about the advice of the Assistant District Attorney. Deputy Hill and Officer Erwin then removed the children and transported them separately to the Broken Bow Police Department, where they immediately turned the children over to the custody of their father.
January 8, 1993, the day that Deputy Hill served the Order, was Sheriff Richard McPeak's third day in office. McPeak had no involvement in the service of the Order and only became aware of the incident when he received notice of this suit. The McCurtain County Sheriff is responsible for establishing the policies and procedures of the Sheriff's Department. Sheriff McPeak testified that by statute and by custom, the McCurtain County District Attorney's Office serves as a legal advisor to the Sheriff's Department. That is, Sheriff McPeak instructed his deputies to seek advice from the District Attorney or his assistants when a legal issue arises.
On June 10, 1994, Ms. Hollingsworth brought this action seeking damages for the constitutional injury allegedly caused by defendants Hill and McPeak. The district court concluded that Deputy Hill was entitled to both absolute quasi-judicial immunity and qualified immunity from suit. The court also concluded that Sheriff McPeak was not liable in his official capacity as the representative of McCurtain County. Finally, the court concluded that Sheriff McPeak was entitled to qualified immunity from suit in his individual capacity. Accordingly, the district court granted summary judgment to Hill and McPeak by Order filed May 4, 1995. This appeal followed.
Ms. Hollingsworth contends that the district court erred in two respects. First, she contends that Deputy Hill is not entitled to qualified immunity from liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Second, she asserts that Sheriff McPeak is liable in his official capacity for the constitutional injury caused by the acts of Deputy Hill. 1
We review the district court's entry of summary judgment de novo, applying the same standard used by the district court under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). V-1 Oil Co. v. Means, 94 F.3d 1420, 1422 (10th Cir.1996). Summary judgment is appropriate only "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). "We view the evidence and draw any inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the party opposing summary judgment." Coosewoon v. Meridian Oil Co., 25 F.3d 920, 929 (10th Cir.1994). " 'Where the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the nonmoving party,' summary judgment in favor of the moving party is proper." Thomas v. International Business Machines, 48 F.3d 478, 484 (10th Cir.1995) (quoting Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986)).
"We analyze assertions of qualified immunity under a two-part framework: first we determine whether the plaintiff has asserted a violation of a constitutional or statutory right, and then we decide whether that right was clearly established such that a reasonable person in the defendant's position would have known that [his] conduct violated that right." Garramone v. Romo, 94 F.3d 1446, 1449 (10th Cir.1996) (citation omitted). "Plaintiff has the 'burden to show with particularity The district court concluded that Deputy Hill was entitled to qualified immunity from suit because it was objectively reasonable for him to believe that his actions did not violate Ms. Hollingsworth's rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. Deputy Hill agrees with the district court's conclusion, but also contends, as an alternate ground for affirmance, that the rights upon which Ms. Hollingsworth relies are not clearly established. Ms. Hollingsworth argues that Deputy Hill is not entitled to qualified immunity because a reasonable person in Hill's position would have known that entry into Ms. Hollingsworth's motel room and removal of her two children without a meaningful opportunity to be heard violated her clearly established rights.
facts and law establishing the inference that defendant violated a constitutional right.' " Abeyta v. Chama Valley Indep. Sch. Dist., No. 19, 77 F.3d 1253, 1255 (10th Cir.1996) (quoting Walter v. Morton, 33 F.3d 1240, 1242 (10th Cir.1994)). She must then demonstrate that "the constitutional ... rights the defendant allegedly violated were clearly established at the time of the conduct at issue." Albright v. Rodriguez, 51 F.3d 1531, 1534 (10th Cir.1995). Once a plaintiff satisfies this burden, the burden shifts to the defendant to...
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